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Hi, 

I am a scientist and Affinity Designer is my de-facto first choice for making illustrations for papers, posters, etc. Because it's great, and it's affordable. 

But making a scientific poster is a hassle. A true hassle. Because I do need to use equations. How does one import an equation into a Designer? I found several options, none really works for posters -- keep reading: 

1) create a small LaTeX document;

(a) compile into PDF; have hours of "fun" with fonts and import options. 

(b) alternatively, compile into a PostScript, open a file browser, rename PS into EPS, drag-and-drop, if you're lucky, sometimes I managed to make it work. Caveat: if you have many equations, they need to be in individual EPS files, otherwise Designer will not like one EPS file constantly getting changed. (Bonus: open your poster from a year ago with 20 EPS figures in it. Click 20 times on a popup window saying the source has changed because you re-ran the computer simulation which created them. After clicking on one popup, wait for a smooth animation as 19 other popups slide around your screen. Repeat 19 times. Then, you can access your poster. Probably.) 

2) use online converters. The one I know that reliably works is www.codecogs.com . But it does not allow for fonts bigger than 20 pts, and fonts in posters are at least 24 pts. So when I really need to insert an equation I do this: (a) type it in codecogs, (b) download SVG file (copypasting from the browser results in a little black rectangle instead of the equation). So download the file, open the file browser, drag and drop. Not into the poster, that would be too easy. Because then, I'll need to manually resize the image to match my font size. I have devised some templates to insert the file into and either resize to match the size of a sample character, or type in numbers in Designer's "transform" tool, for which I need a calculator at hand (would be nice to download in 12pt and resize in Designer by 200%, but alas - so I use a calculator). 

None of this is a good working solution if you need like 20 equations. 

Is there a working solution? I have heard of LaTeXit, but that won't work in Windows. MS Office has some weird equation editor, but that won't copypaste to Designer.  

Every single time I make a poster, I often spend hours searching for other options online and it gets inexplicably frustrating. Every. Single. Time!  When I need a lot of equations, I make a LaTeX save them all as a PS, then convert to EPS (they still have to fit on one page), then open it in a separate Designer window, then convert to curves, then "Group" curves corresponding to all symbols in a single equation, then resize in bulk, then copypaste. Aaarrrggghhh. 

Has anyone have found any working solution? As I said, the solutions above work if you have one equation, but are a true hassle if you need to put in a dozen. (Unless there is an alternative to codecogs that lets you set large font size and hopefully works as a copypaste?) 

It would be really great for more than just posters, as I often use Designer for illustrations, in which sometimes I need to use equations, too -- that would make me never want to quit the Designer ever. 

Thanks! 

Edited by Anna M
fixed a few typos
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Have you ever tried the equation editor of LibreOffice? Export the equation to PDF and open in AD. Unfortunately I am not so familiar with equations.

------
Windows 10 | i5-8500 CPU | Intel UHD 630 Graphics | 32 GB RAM | Latest Retail and Beta versions of complete Affinity range installed

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Any requirement for Windows Metafile (enhanced or not) makes the technique Windows-specific, I think.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
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